Latest Articles

Butterfly Flutter: Bye!

Climate Change Could Wipe Out Monarch Butterflies Monarch butterflies could find themselves in serious trouble within 50 years because of climate change, according to new research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Monarchs make an annual migration of more than 2,000 miles from spots as far north as the U.S.-Canada […]

Winged Victory

Endangered U.K. Bird Coming Back from the Brink of Extinction Now, for a bit of good species news: One of the rarest birds in Britain, the cirl bunting, has made an impressive comeback from the brink of extinction, thanks to a proactive government plan that pays farmers to maintain their fields in cirl bunting-friendly ways. […]

L’enfant, Terrible!

Truck Pollution at U.S.-Mexico Border Is Killing Kids, Study Says Hundreds of kids have died and tens of thousands have been hospitalized in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just south of the U.S. border, because of respiratory illnesses seemingly caused by air pollution, according to a five-year study released yesterday by the environmental watchdog group created under […]

CF-Seized

Illegal Trading of CFCs Imperils Ozone Layer Smuggling of CFCs and other ozone-depleting chemicals is on the rise, interfering with efforts to repair the Earth’s protective ozone layer, the London-based Environment Investigation Agency said in a report released yesterday. As deadlines approach for phasing out CFCs, which are used in refrigeration and air conditioning, their […]

Gold Substandard

Unlawful Gold Mining Threatens Brazilian Amazon Illegal gold mining in the rivers of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is on the upswing and could mean bad news for the environment. Thousands of poor small-scale miners, called garimpeiros, risk their lives to get at traces of gold at the bottom of rivers, sometimes employing equipment as basic as […]

Mike Simpson, One Sky

Mike Simpson works on international environmental projects with partners in West Africa and Latin America. He is the executive director of One Sky — The Canadian Institute of Sustainable Living in the rural, northern town of Smithers, British Columbia. Monday, 10 Nov 2003 EN ROUTE TO SIERRA LEONE It’s the bags that always get me […]

Ghost Busters

Contaminated U.S. Ships Cause a Stir in Britain Controversy continues to swirl around four highly contaminated former U.S. Navy vessels — dubbed “ghost ships” — that are making their way across the Atlantic* to Hartlepool, England, where a British company has a contract to dismantle them. The first two toxin-tainted ships are being towed through […]

Strawberry Yields Forever

U.S. Could Endanger Ozone Layer with Push for Pesticide Use In pushing for continued use of a controversial pesticide, the Bush administration could undermine international efforts to protect the ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol, a 1987 treaty ratified by the U.S. and other industrialized nations, calls for phasing out the ozone-depleting pesticide methyl bromide by […]

Heartbreaker

Air Pollution Boosts Heart Attacks, Says New Study Evidence keeps coming in to show that air pollution kills. New research released on Sunday found that during the 18 highest air-pollution days in Dijon, France, the rate of heart attacks increased by 161 percent among the general population, and by 250 percent among smokers. Fine particulate […]

Bigger Homes and Gardens

As New Homes in Massachusetts Get Bigger, Enviros Get Worried If Americans follow the trend in Massachusetts, they’ll increasingly be living in larger homes on larger lots, even though fewer people reside in each house. A new report by the Massachusetts Audubon Society found that the state is losing 40 acres of forest, farmland, and […]